Inner Demons
by Tetris Remix
Summary: What use were perishable containers for Kyuubi? When Naruko Uzumaki is granted eternal life by extenuating circumstances, she watches as the Elemental Countries fall, and a new civilization arises. In its shadows a secret war is being led, between the Exorcists and the Demons. Which side will she choose? The Exorcists? The Demons? Or her own? NaruKyuu.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello~ I'm starting a new story, as you can see~ I've noticed there not too much fics or crossovers in the Blue Exorcist section. I wanted to add at least one story to it! So here it is!**_

* * *

It had been a long time since Naruko Uzumaki had been to school. Truthfully, she didn't even know why she was here, waiting at the renowned True Cross Academy to be enrolled in the _Exorcist _cram school. Of all the things she could have been with her experience, talents and money, she had chosen to go to a school training people to hate and kill the kind and kin of her beloved from the crib. It was irony at its finest. But, it was also new and exciting, something she had not experienced for a long time.

But no matter. The past was the past, and now it was gone. A new leaf had been turned. Perhaps, this generation would fare better than their predecessors, and leave behind their prejudice? She'd soon see.

The soon-to-be exorcist in training sighed and picked up her luggage, before walking towards the tall buildings of the Academy under the sweltering heat of the summer sun.

Today was a glorious day, of pure blue skies and lazy breezes, rustling the green leaves of the trees in the surrounding forest. The town seemed almost deserted, as everyone had stayed at home, trying desperately to escape the suffocating heat. Save for a few birds and a boy who walked the same road as Naruko, the scenery was bereft of any movement. The boy in question was dragging his feat slowly, like each step drained his already low energy, and his dark blue hair was matted with sweat. He was carrying a plastic shopping bag and was nosily sucking on a blue ice-lolly.

Naruko inwardly snorted at his lack of table manners; years ago, she would have eaten it the same way. But that was a very long time ago, and she had changed. When one lived a very long time, they usually went through moral changes. In this case, Naruko had lost a great deal of her optimism. Wars were constantly being fought all over the globe, and conflicts were ever-present. She'd even thought that, maybe, Pain wasn't so wrong after all, and that humans could never live in peace without someone forcing their hand. But she had a companion in her long suffering. One who'd been there from birth, and understood how she felt.

Though her snort was not as internal as her monologue after all, because the teen in front of her had stopped, taking out the lolly from his mouth and facing her with a scowl.

Naruko did a double take. Those eyes! They were like _hers_! The demon container's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as her mind whirled with all the reasonable answers that could explain her situation.

But it found none. Yuri was nineteen when she had died in a dreadful accident, and she had no known descendants apart from the cardinal, who was an old decrepit man. This boy, even if he had her eyes, couldn't possibly be related to her! But the resemblance was scary.

Meanwhile, Rin was glaring at the girl who had snorted at him. She was small and looked kinda weak with her thin arms and legs. Her whisker like scars on each cheek gave her a feral air that contrasted with her angelic blue eyes and sun kissed blonde hair. Her face was the picture of shock before his scowl was registered. Her face soured.

"What are you looking at?"

Her voice was hard, but Rin had fought down scarier opponents than a girl and wasn't fazed at all.

"A rude midget. "

"That's funny. I was looking at an aggressive, lanky bastard. "

Rin spluttered. He'd never heard a girl cussing before. Izumo usually used proper expressions like "idiot" and Shiemi… Well, Shiemi couldn't hurt a fly. Let alone start cussing like a sailor. Plus she had started it. _Snorting _at him like that!

"What? Never heard a girl cuss before?" she snapped, before looking at her wristwatch in a sudden panic. "Shit, the time! I have to meet the Principal at 11h30 and it's 11h 35! Move!", the girl spat before shoving past him and disappearing in the building where the principal's Office was housed.

The demon in disguise stared dazedly at the space where the girl had stood just seconds ago.

What the hell had just happened? Why had he just started an argument over a snort? Maybe she was just a normal girl who hadn't been looking for an argument, and had thought of something funny. And he'd become all hostile and aggressive, … like a demon. And despite his tail, his ears, his _blood, _he _wasn't _a demon. Not at heart. Rin resolved to apologize to the blonde haired girl should he see her again.

That solved, he put the ice-lolly back in his mouth, and shivering in delight at its glorious sweetness, he set off to drop the errand his spotty four-eyed bastard of a brother had sent him on.

Hmm. It was weird; he had a funny feeling that he had forgotten something,

Oh, well. It was probably something stupid.

* * *

"Come in," a pleasant voice invited from within the office. Naruko picked up her heavy bag, pushed the door open, and got ready to face whatever Mephisto Pheles had to say to her.

The bastard hadn't changed at all: same stupid purple hair with a single curl towering over the rest of his locks, same poisonous green eyes that always danced with hidden laughter and same mocking grin as ever. But his outfit… His outfit had reached new heights of childishness. A white top hat with a candy pink sash laid on his desk, and an umbrella with ice-cream styled decorations was leaning against the solid wood furniture.

The Principal himself was seated at the desk, hands folded under his chin as those damnable green yes of his looked her over. They widened when he realized whom he as looking at, and his mouth stretched in a grin that displayed his tiny fangs.

"Aah, Naruko-chan!~ It has been too long! How have you been, my dear?"

"Not long enough," growled Naruko. "And it's Uzumaki-san to you, Mephisto Pheles."

The Demon King pouted. "You're so mean Naruko-chan. Anyway. What brings you to True Cross Academy?"

"I wish to enroll here," Naruko blandly said.

The principal openly began to laugh. "You're jesting, Naruko-chan! Enroll in the middle of the term? And that's ignoring the fact that your mate is an extremely powerful demon. The Vatican will throw a tantrum the size of Assiah if they find out!"

"I'm willing to work hard and catch up. And that's if the Vatican finds out. Which I will make sure won't happen." Naruko assured.

The King of Time and Space sobered up and he twisted his goatee with his clawed fingers thoughtfully for a moment. "Very well. Here are the forms you have to fill up and your future timetable. The rest will be taken care of. "

Naruko's mouth dropped open. "You're letting me in this easily? I figured I would have to listen to you bitch about how dangerous this was, for you and this Academy, how you couldn't afford to take any risk, lest you be exorcised and bla, bla, bla…"

Her eyes narrowed. "There's a catch. There must be, you scheming bastard."

Mephisto's face was the picture of innocence and shock, which was doubly suspicious to those who knew he was actually a demon, and a strong one at that. Demons weren't born strong; they became strong by utterly annihilating their enemies and devouring them. "How could you think that of me? I'm genuinely offended, Naruko-chan! But you're right. There is a catch. I won't tell you about it though! It makes the games more entertaining that way. If you don't want to be a part of my game, well, you just have to leave…"

The girl's eyes flashed red and she bared her now sharp teeth, snarling. She needed information on "Your games! It's always about your games and your entertainment! I hate you!"

She stormed out of the room and slammed the door so hard, the windows behind him cracked. Mephisto Pheles, or as he was known in the human world, Johan Faust V, chuckled lightly.

"What an interesting development."

Back outside, Naruko was fuming. She hated being used! She knew Mephisto was hiding something from her. Considering other people's lives like a game! People like that, deserved to die. But, for a little while at least, Naruko would play along. She needed information on the Blue Night.

What could have caused Satan to go crazy like that? Yuri's death had been hard for them all, but it had hit the Demon King much harder than the rest. Maybe he had lost his sanity. The little she had seen of him, the demon had seemed childish, almost. (he still cursed like a sailor, though.)

What people considered aggressive behavior in demons, Naruko and the late Yuri had known to be rather oblivious, if not a bit hands on, curiosity.

Demons had limited understanding of Assiah, and like all living beings, were inquisitive. So, they possessed bodies to explore the material world and its many wonders. The slight hick in these otherwise pacific interactions with the human realm was that most demons did not know about life or death. They were immortal, living on even when they had been ingested by other demons or "killed" by exorcists. They reformed after a while out of their dispersed energy and could not understand why humans did not.

Of course, not all demons were like that. Like every civilization, they had their share of hate, war and cruelty. The stronger demons were usually drunk with power, and acted on their impulses, which quite often were devastating for he human world. An Impure King once decided to trek the world in its undiluted form, because he wanted to. Unfortunately, his true form had spread a virulent plague that had devastated human settlements and a branch of exorcists had been involved.

Last she had heard of him, he had been sealed, and his eyes, gouged out. But she was digressing.

There were pieces missing in her puzzle, and she had a feeling True Cross Academy might be just the place to find them.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto Crossover Blue Exorcist chapter 2 

**Hello, and welcome to chapter 2! I am alive! As in not dead! Sorry for the wait, it took me time to construct a reasonnable explanation for Naruko's past. Thank you all for the reviews, and the faves! I love you guys!**

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After the meeting with the Headmaster, Naruko had found her dorm room, and had started settling in. The room itself was cosy, and welcoming: warm wood floor, cream walls, and a couple of oak furniture, which included a desk, shelves and a wardrobe, decorated the little alcove. A bed was tucked in a corner, opposite to a medium sized window that was currently open, letting a refreshing breeze in.

After unpacking her belongings, Naruko sat on her bed, and started going through her last bag- the one that held all her souvenirs and mementos. She had bought a few small albums since the creation of photography, but most of those mementos were tresses of hair, bracelets, engravings of people and wild natural scenery, and colourful trinkets that were of no particular value to anyone except her. Naruko paused when she reached her oldest souvenir of all: a tattered band of cloth that was once black, adorned with a shiny, well cared-for metal plate etched with a stylised leaf.

This was her most precious keepsake of all, and the only one that had survived the wearing away of time. It had been five hundred years, but her nightmarish memories of her life as a shinobi were ever so vivid.

Five hundred years ago, Tobi, or as he was revealed to be, Obito had finally raised the Juubi from the dead, and had set upon the task of casting the Eternal Tsukuyomi on the Moon. All was set to make his dream world into reality: Killer Bee was trapped in the Kamui dimension and Kakashi and Gai were dead, leaving a tired Naruko to fight against Obito alone. Naruko could still see Obito's insane grin and hear his demented laugh, as the madman practically tasted victory. But, Murphy's Law applied to everyone, even arch-villains, it seemed.

What Obito hadn't taken into account was that the Juubi was a force of _nature. _Nature was wild, ferocious and fierce, but most of all, possibly the most powerful force in existence. There was a reason why Sages, who could use natural chakra, were so strong. Also, what hadn't crossed the Uchiha's mind was that Juubi was, by all means, a _baby _demon, newly created from the remains of an old one but lacking the maturity. And that being relegated to a small part of your mind, as you watched your body act against your will was a terrorizing experience, as Kyuubi could attest to, many years ago, on a chilly October night.

So when Obito, intoxicated with power, gave that infinitesimal leeway to the Juubi to better marvel at how close he was to seeing his one true love again, it broke free and _lashed _out in complete and utter _fear_. Obito barely even felt it when he was obliterated into atoms by the mountain sized Juubi.

The Ten-Tailed demon then started what Naruko later called, the Genocide- the systematic erasing of everything that resembled Obito in the Juubi's eye. Or in simpler terms, the humans with chakra.

The auxiliary shinobis that stood on the sidelines were promptly annihilated, and suddenly the Juubi zeroed its gelatinous eye straight into her own eyes, but without actually staring at Naruko. It was actually looking at the general area in which Naruko stood.

A few tense seconds that felt like eternity passed, and the Juubi straightened. Naruko tensed, ready to dodge whatever the Juubi was going to throw her way. But the Juubi merely shook itself and jumped away. That was the last thing Naruko saw, because the shockwave produced by the Juubi's powerful jump caused the nearby mountain to rumble ominously. Seconds later, a whole pan of the mountain crumbled into a flash avalanche that swallowed Naruko Uzumaki.

Meanwhile, the Juubi wasted no time, and went straight to the biggest conglomeration of what it considered to be a menace to its safety.

In this case, Suna. Fortunately, the demon was slow, and not very agile; it was still discovering its own body, and thus, moved slowly, stumbling every few leaps it made, like a very big and ugly toddler. Occasionally though, it made leaps that covered a least several kilometres in one go, like it was slowly learning how to move.

Consequently, it left time for messengers to relay the news to Suna that the Juubi was heading their way, and so the village prepared. Civilians were evacuated. Suna shinobi were ordered to return to the village immediately, and medical ninjas worked overtime to heal every wounded so that they had as much capable fighters as they could. A few shinobi from the Alliance came with them as allies, but not a lot for the Shinobi Alliance had been greatly reduced by the Zetsu Clones, and the Juubi.

The whole of what was left of the shinobi army of Suna, led by Gaara, had been there, ready and geared. The Suna ninjas fought bravely for an entire day against the incarnation of Nature, but lost. The Juubi razed the Village, the relatively small wounds inflicted upon him by the ninjas already fading into scars before disappearing entirely.

Shortly after Suna's destruction, the Juubi began crawling towards the Land of Rivers, and its residential Village: the Village Hidden in the Valleys, or Tanigakure. It was also destroyed in the course of a day. And so, the Juubi began the systematic destruction of each and every Village there was.

The counterattack took time to coalesce. Three Kages had died, leaving many shinobis without a leader. Civil wars reigned in those villages where men fought to gain vacant positions of power. Many more deserted, terrified out of their wits by the looming threat of an unstoppable demon. The residential Hunter-nins made short work of those deserters, and made them into examples by displaying their dead bodies in the Village Squares. Needless to say, no shinobi left the Villages after that- the message was loud and clear: zero tolerance for deserters.

Civilians everywhere didn't have a much better life. Famine plagued them because the agricultural fields had been destroyed. No man was fool enough to venture out of the Village lest bandits attacked them. What little food remained was given out in rations. The economy, which relied mostly on the ninjas, crashed. Ryo bills became nothing more than kindling for fire. House prices rose to never-before-seen heights, because the viable homes were so few.

Added to that, the news of the defeat of Suna had swept through the villages, spreading unrest and fear through the hearts of even the most level-headed. One of the Big Five had fallen. And if that wasn't enough, Naruko Uzumaki, Hero of the War, was missing. Pessimists and cynics whispered that she had died, or worse, that she had abandoned them, to whomever would lend an ear to their hissing tongues.

Depression, fear of the Juubi and the ninja, who didn't seem so friendly after the Fleeing Massacres, suspicion and conflicts, bloomed in every heart, like so many parasites.

Finally, a conference was hastily organized to make an alliance, survival taking the step before mindless terror. The New Shinobi Alliance, which encompassed every Village there was, was born, making it the first good news since the battle of the Ten-Tails.

The New Shinobi Alliance started to get to work quickly. Shelters were created. The Villages were fortified. The coalition made all the inapt civilians evacuate in the shelters built in the entire Continent.

The NSA installed draconian measures to insure the survival of everyone they could. All the children were summed to become shinobis, even the nearly inept ones. They needed an army, and if it was to be composed of children, then so be it. Every able civilian was urged to learn a bit of taijutsu, unlock their chakra core, learn how to farm, how to hunt, basic first-aid and how to build viable houses. Everyone was urged to produce as many offspring as they could. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

However, the Juubi kept finding the thoroughly hidden shelters. The Shinobi were puzzled as to how it found the civilians each time without fail, before realizing the Juubi was tracking _human chakra. _The shelters of civilians were to the beast, pockets of concentrated human chakra, standing out in the sea of natural energy. That tidbit of information leaked faster than a dam riddled with fifty-feet holes.

The shelters emptied themselves in a record amount of time, and the NSA disbanded, even more short-lived than the last alliance. Every man was for himself now, because living with someone else was painting a target on your forehead, shouting 'Hey Juubi! I'm over here!".

Men fought for territory and solitude. The strongest had the better chance of survival. Man had reverted to beast.

Of course, a few clans like the Yamanaka, the Akimichi and the Nara stuck together till the end, their bond intact even in the face of certain death. But not all men were so brave. And the Juubi tracked the humans mercilessly, slowly but surely eliminating any and all humans it 'saw'.

By now, everyone had abandoned hope: their champion had to be dead.

But, contrary to popular belief, Naruko was still in the land of the living. Granted, she was toeing between the fine barrier between life and death, but her heart was still pumping. Knocked out and severely injured by the Juubi's fear and consequent lashing out, she was buried under rubble and sojourning in her own mind.

Uzumakis, everyone knew, were extremely hard to kill- only a direct hit to a vital point or an extreme quantity of damage could kill an Uzumaki. In fact, the Uzumaki Vitailty had come _this_ close to being classified as a Kekkei Genkai. Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, they were massacred. You see, a Kekkei Genkai needed at least ten bearers to be considered one and actual proof of it existing. Thus, the Uzumaki not-bloodline remained a secret.

And so, Naruko, unconscious, and completely ignorant of what was happening outside, slumbered under debris, Uzumaki blood working on mending her body by pumping wave after wave of chakra through it. It was a slow process due to the sheer quantity of damage her body had endured.

Finally three months later, Naruko startled awake with a gasp. Earth rushed and filled her mouth, and she choked, spitting out the dirt from her mouth, only for more dirt to pour in. Blindly, she let out a pulse of concentrated chakra that blew away the rubble crushing her in a massive explosion. The sound echoed for miles around, and Naruko, too exhausted to stand, kneeled on the ground, waiting for the squad of ninja that was sure to come and investigate the cause of the explosion. She waited, ears strained and senses stretched out to sense any approaching ninjas but no one came. Slowly, the exhausted Jinchuuriki stood up, heavy doubt weighing in her stomach like lead. She shakily started to climb the walls of the crater her pulse of chakra had dug, her body trembling with exhaustion.

When she reached the top, she paused, panting heavily.

Her body was weak, and her minded was clouded. She felt like Lee had mistaken her for a training post, and gone all out. Kami above, her head was just one massive ball of freaking, pulsing pain! Gritting her teeth, she stumbled towards the trees she could see a few miles away. Judging by the height of the sun in the sky, night would fall in a couple of hours: she had to build a shelter, and scour the small forest for berries and roots for dinner. Then, in the morning, when she'd wake up, she'd puzzle over the missing ninjas. Naruko, after a meagre supper, fell into a dreamless sleep curled up on a bedding of leaves. Once again, her blood worked its magic on her body, returning muscles and body to their pre-atrophy state.

The next morning, after a brief breakfast of the leftover nuts, Naruko felt a lot better than yesterday. In fact, she felt like brand-new. Shrugging, and pining the blame on the regeneration Kyuubi provided her oh-so-graciously, she set off to find her home Village.

After a few hours of tree jumping, she stumbled upon a disgusting sight: a man was hunched over the body of a deer, and… eating the flesh raw, like an animal. A kunai, looking worse for the wear, laid on the side, obviously the weapon the man had used to kill the deer. Naruko jumped down from the tree she was standing on.

"Oy, what are you doing? You could get sick, eating raw meat like that!"

The man tensed, and grabbed the kunai in his hand. A low growl rumbled from the old man's throat and made Naruko tense.

The dirty man suddenly whirled around, and charged at her, eyes glinting madly and blood-soaked teeth bared in a vicious snarl..

"This is my land! My territory! My prey!" he shrieked madly, swinging the kunai in wide arc, from left to right., and then back. Naruko merely stepped backwards, before hitting his kunai-wielding wrist with a sharp, precise two-fingered tap. The man howled and the kunai clattered to the ground, his hand twitching uncontrollably because of the nerve strike. He fell to his knees.

"A shinobi… Those damned shinobis! Must… get away… Juubi… The Juubi will come… Death… Chakra," the dirty, scruffy, foul-smelling man muttered under his breath, favouring his injured wrist, and rocking backwards and forwards slowly. Naruko approached him warily, aware that each step she took towards the man caused him to bristle more and more, like a wild dog.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, old man. Just calm down," she said soothingly. "Why are you here, alone? Why don't you go back to Konoha with me, and they'll give you proper food, and shelter? That would be better, right?"

The man stopped rocking back and forth, and slowly began to shake with silent laughter. Before long, he was giggling madly.

"Stupid, sssstupid girl… The Juubi, it comes… It comes and poof! The humans go away… Jun remembers, oh yes! Jun saw, yes he did! Saw the Great Beast! The Great Beast with the great Big Eye! The _Demon!" _The man hissed the word "demon" like it sullied his tongue to merely pronounce it. He calmed down a bit from his anger spat and continued mumbling in his dirty beard_. _ "Jun remembers his shiny, shiny, shiny headband! Jun was so proud…. He had a wife. But the Villages are gone! And so are the people! Gone, gone, gone… " The man crowed, getting up and dancing drunkenly. Suddenly, he was in Naruko's face.

"The Juubi comes! It is heeeeere!" he breathed, eyes smouldering with insanity, before he jumped backwards, a clawed finger pointed ominously towards her. "He will come for youuuu! You should run, Little Shinobi girl, or you will go poof, too!" And then the man picked up the kunai and slit his own throat, falling to the ground with a thump. Naruko shrieked, and rushed to pick up the man's body.

"Hold on! Why did you do this, Jii-san? What were you talking about? What's happening with the Juubi?" Naruko tried desperately to keep the man awake, shaking him in an effort to ward off death for just a few more seconds. It was all in vain, because the crazy shinobi's eyes became glassy, and a red, bubbling sigh left his lips. The man had died.

Naruko, thoroughly disturbed, took a day to bury the mad shinobi's body and pay her respects to him, before she once again set in search of her Village. Days passed, and she met men and women similar to the madman. They all muttered about the Great Beast, and the fall of the Villages, and each one of them feared and hated shinobis. The heavy doubt weighed more and more each passing day until, one day, she stumbled upon Konoha. Or what was left of it.

A huge valley with a range of mountains on one side and a river flowing by on another laid before her. Remains of what had been great walls circled charred ruins. The only movement from within the walls was tattered cloths that had once been refugee tents fluttering gently in the wind that carried the smell of cooled ashes. The place was absolutely deserted, and destroyed.

On the mountains, you could barely recognise five vague, human like heads carved into the stone; the Hokage Monument. The blind, still intact eyes of the stone Sandaime still looked upon a village that was no more, guarding mere memories of Konoha.

Naruko stepped into the Village, walking towards the mountains, numbly noting that this corner of this particular ruin had been the hospital, this one her apartment block, this one the Shinobi Academy, and so on…

The Juubi had destroyed the Village. And if the mutterings of the insane wild-men and women were to be trusted, it was hunting down everything that had human chakra. According to the state of the ruins, it had been destroyed at least three weeks ago: pillagers had already raided the food stores she knew were buried underground.

To her relief, there were little cadavers in the ruins, which meant the bulk of the population had left before the attack. But pieces were still missing, such as _why _the Juubi was attacking everyone the way it did.

And so began the frantic search for data on the Juubi. For months she hunted for leads on how to defeat it, its weaknesses or even a special weapon, specifically tailored to defeat those bothersome rampaging ten-tailed demons. But no dice. Information on the demon was few and far-in-between, and at best barely reliable- one of the sources, a musty, tattered book, found in a clan archive of the Snow Country even said the bloody thing was a Demon General to a Demon God. Being a shinobi, and not one for waste, she sealed away every single scroll and book she found be it Jutsus, theory, contracts, missions logbook, summoning contracts, history timelines, geography maps, physic theories, science treaties and so on. Hell, she even gathered cooking recipes. She was now literally a walking library.

Naruko had to face the Juubi, and determine its weaknesses during the battle itself, on the fly- if not for her, than for the future fighters. It didn't mean she wasn't scared; Kami, she was practically sure she was running towards her death.

Tracking the monster down took no time at all: the demon towered over the treetops, and left a clear, easy–to-follow trail of destruction.

It had fleshed out since the last time Naruko had seen it: its spindly legs that looked like they had belonged on a newborn calf had thickened with muscles, as had his chest, covering its once sticking-out ribs.

Naruko wasted no time at all: a burst of Shunshin later, she was standing behind its head, and had her Kyuubi Chakra Mode on. Seconds later, she smashed a Tailed Beast Ball on the back of its head, retreating with another Shunshin to a respectable distance, just in time to watch the Tailed Beast Rasengan implode. The Juubi howled with pain, back arching, before it zeroed in on Naruko. Immediately, three of its tails rushed forward, their tips sharpening to deadly spikes. Naruko dodged the first by jumping jumped on the second, launching five kunais with her most powerful Explosive Tags tied on them on the third one to take it out of service. She jumped once more off the second tail, her jump further propelled by the quintuple explosion that took a good chunk of Juubi's third Tail. Naruko landed on the Juubi's chest, ducking under a surging fourth tail meant to bat her off and immediately began to run. Momentarily deactivating her Kyuubi Chakra Mode, she made a good forty Shadow Clones, before reactivating the cloak of golden chakra. Each clone made at least one version of Rasengan, and the air was filled with the familiar high-pitched wailing of a few RasenShurikens twirling in the hands of a few overzealous clones. One even flipped of the Juubi with its spare hand, scowling darkly at the demon. On some unspoken signal, the clones branched off. Ten of them focused on its arms, another ten focused on its legs, and another five concentrated on its chest. Then, as one, they smashed the attacks down, bubbles of blue wind energy blooming on the Juubi's body like particularly destructive flowers. The Juubi lurched and fell to its knees, legs and arms hanging by a shred of skin and a massive crater on its chest. Naruko had no time to gloat over a job well done because suddenly, all ten tails were bearing down as one on the fifteen remaining Shadow Clones. All identical, _undamaged _ten tails. Naruko paled.

_Shit. The Juubi has regeneration._

_**Obviously, **_snorted Kyuubi. **I**_** have regeneration and I'm weaker than him. Besides, all Tailed Beasts have that power: we're chakra after all. **_

_Instead of being a smart ass, can you come out for a sec? I need help over here. _

Kyuubi needn't to be told twice. A Shadow Clone tensed for a second when a foreign consciousness invaded it, before its lips split in a wide grin that wasn't entirely human. The Kyuubi-possessed Shadow Clone redoubled its efforts, batting away and dodging deadly blows while laughing insanely.

"This is _fun_! I can see why humans fight all the time!"

Naruko sweat dropped as she jumped over a swing of a spiked tail. He was enjoying it _way_ too much for a life-threatening situation. The Juubi could absorb him, and Kurama was laughing like it was no big deal!

"This is serious, Kurama! Stop laughing and make yourself useful! Distract him, I need to find a weak point!" she hollered over the angry bellows of the Juubi.

"Killjoy," Kurama muttered under his breath before he charged up a Tailed Beast Rasengan on the fly, running up to the Juubi's chin and smashing it there. The explosion forced the Juubi's head upwards, and it was stunned momentarily. Naruko wasted no time and immediately began her transition to Sage Mode, closing her eyes in concentration, and melding her fingers in the Ram Seal to focus her chakra. When she opened her eyes again, her pupils were slit sideways, and her irises were a beautiful honey-golden colour. What seemed to be eye shadow stained her eyelids, and cool energy now coursed her body, like a breath of fresh air. Naruko couldn't help but sigh of relief- a sigh that was brutally interrupted by a claw-tip that pierced her shoulder, eliciting a scream on her part, and only missing her head because Naruko had leaned it to the side at the last moment. Another claw-tip plunged into her stomach, and blood spurted out of her mouth. Naruko grasped the claw that went through her with hands slick with her own blood. Her widened eyes returned to blue, and the orange faded from her eyelids. The two claws retreated with a wet suction noise, and Naruko fell to the ground, every clone dispelling together in a poof of chakra-smoke, even the one housing the Kyuubi. Kurama was back in the seal faster than he could say 'Sage of the Six Paths', and caused him a nasty amount of mental backlash. He dropped like a fly. A huge, red fly, with nine tails and bunny ears.

This is why no one saw the Juubi contemplate Naruko, head cocked to the side like a particularly ugly, curious puppy. When Naruko stopped interesting it (because, really, watching something sleep only held something's interest for so much. Unless, you're Edward. Then, in that case, it is perfectly entertaining, enjoyable, romantic and not at all stalker-like to watch your someone sleep.), the Juubi left to track down another one of these pesky humans that were getting harder and harder to find.

And lo, Naruko fell into _another _Uzumaki Healing Coma. If her body had a voice and could speak, it would have called Naruko a string of insults involving mushrooms, a dead fox and a relation to a brain-dead llama. For our younger readers, this list was censored, but to help you imagine how vulgar the profanities were, Uchiha Itachi would have fainted, had he heard them. Yes. It was- could have been- that bad. Thank Kami-Jashin-Buddha-whoever-is-up-there for mute, non-sentient bodies.

After a month of coma, Naruko finally woke up. _Again. _And had to take a day of rest and food to get her body up to par. _Again. _But unlike last time, she didn't find anyone. At all.

No matter how hard she looked, with clones, with Chakra Sensing, with emotion sensing, she couldn't find anybody. She looked for weeks and weeks, cautiously staying as far away from the oppressive mass of chakra that was Juubi as she could. She kept on finding ruins, and remains of human habitation, but no sign of the actual people living there. It was like they had been erased from existence.

After those weeks spent searching for a human being, any human being, Naruko had to face reality: the genocide was over. The Shinobis were _all _dead.

A few days later saw Naruko sitting at the top of a mountain, legs dangling into the great plunging depths, eyes glazed and mind stuck on this one thought: _this can't be happening. _

_It seemed just like yesterday that Sasuke looked down his nose at her, that Sakura cooed at the Uchiha and that she played awesome pranks on the stupid villagers._

_Then, Orochimaru. Sasuke's betrayal. The Akatsuki. Pein. Madara. The Juubi. _

_Where was everyone? Was this a Genjutsu? Some elaborate, well thought out Tsukuyomi? Apparently, Tsukuyomi was an unbreakable illusion, but then, why wasn't Obito here to gloat at her? Why did he make himself die in the Genjutsu? If she waited enough, would the illusion fall apart? But, it's already been around six months since Obito's supposed death, why hadn't it dispelled yet? _

_But then again, _a hopeful voice timidly stuttered, _time passes differently in dreams. Why not in illusions? _

The overbearing evidence that it actually happened quickly crushed the timid voice. The Moon was not Sharingan Red, and Rin was nowhere to be seen. If this was Obito's Paradise World, then he was really weird.

Naruko stayed like this for a long time, not moving one inch, just staring blindly at the oxymoron that the Shinobi Island had become, a verdant graveyard, an abundant Hell, a barren Eden.

Then, she started blaming herself. Had she been strong enough, she could have banished the demon, dragging its soul to Hell along with hers. The dead could have lived. Had she been fast enough, she could have saved Killer Bee. Two trained Jinchuurikis working in tandem could have defeated the demon, strong as it had been. Had she known what was to come, she would have given in to Obito. The Moon Eye Plan and the Eternal Tsukuyomi were supposed to guarantee paradise on Earth, or so Obito said. Anything was better than this, even mindless servitude. At least, she wouldn't have felt guilty for the dead in the Eternal Tsukuyomi. It was all her fault! How could she have been this stupid?! Why hadn't she trained enough?! Everything could have been avoided with a little training!

Being the hero was all fine and good, now wasn't it? Champion of the deceased, what a great honour!

She would make the Juubi _pay!_

Naruko let all her emotions in a scream, and howled her challenge to the very heavens until her throat was raw. She let her emotions run free, and the Kyuubi's chakra was forcibly torn from him to form a red bubbling cloak to cover her body. She grew claws and fangs, her beautiful sunny blue eyes turned scarlet, and the scars on her cheeks deepened, and spread, the result of the demonic chakra pumped through her entire body.

Immediately, she bolted towards where she could feel the roiling mass of living natural chakra was.

When she got there, she had a massive double take. The Juubi was, for lack of a better word, falling apart. Or melting. A weird fusion between the two.

One of its legs and one of its arms were missing, and the left side of the Juubi's head was dripping flesh like some weird demon-version of an Oz-Witch doused with water. The Juubi tried to stand up, but his remaining arm collapsed under it, and it crashed to the floor. A long, keening whimper escaped the Juubi as it struggled vainly to get up.

Naruko's anger slowly ebbed out as she watched the pathetic sight before her. It was like watching a foal taking its first steps. Only this foal had committed genocide, and could actually walk before. Slowly, jump-by-jump, she got closer to the demon that now had stopped struggling. It laid on the ground, breath coming up in short, scared puffs, like a terrified animal.

_Its scared, Kurama. What do I do now?_

_**You could have warned me before you took my chakra like that, brat. And I don't know… Old Man Rikudo never said anything to us about the Ten-Tails being like an animal… Anyway, if it's an animal, it's considered innocent, right? **_

_It's a she. The Juubi is _female.

_** … You CHECKED?! Don't you have better things to do? Like decide what to do with the overgrown puppy monster?**_

Naruko resisted the urge to call him out on the kettle calling the teapot black, and replied**: **_She's dying anyway. Look at her eyes… errr I mean, eye. It's glazing over. And if her body melting is anything to go by, she's losing structure. Like a Jutsu failing because you didn't use enough chakra__**. **__Wasn't the Juubi's body made with the First's cells, held together by a Jutsu?_

Even as Naruko conversed with Kurama, thick globs of the Juubi's flesh were falling to the ground with resounding splats, before sinking to the ground without a trace. The Earth was absorbing Juubi back into itself.

The Juubi let out another drawn-out whine, and squirmed, nearly crushing Naruko in the process. Her unique eye focused on Naruko and she whined again, more softly this time, nearly pleadingly.

_**It looks like the Juubi wants you to do something….**_

Naruko approached the Juubi warily, patting the skin near her eye soothingly, like one would stroke a dog. The Juubi's throat rumbled and her remaining tails swished the air in contentment, and-

_Holy shit… Is the Juubi… _

_**Purring and wagging her tails? Apparently, yes**__. _

" Onee….Chaan…"

Naruko jolted. Had the Juubi just called her Big Sister? No, she couldn't have, right? The Juubi was an animal, and couldn't speak, right? But apparently, the world liked to prove her wrong, as the Juubi spoke, again.

"I'm fcared… Onee-chan…"

The Demon that had wiped out the entire Shinobi Civilaztion had a _lisp? _And a cute one, at that! Naruko stared gobsmacked as the Juubi trembled like it was indeed scared. Since the trembles were starting to kick up a cloud of dust, Naruko hurriedly petted the side of the Juubi, and she calmed down immediately.

"Ftay with me, Onee-chan… Pleafe?"

Naruko, not knowing what to do, dumbly nodded, still in shock of the recent news, and continued to pet the side of the Juubi. She stayed like this until the Juubi closed her eye, and exhaled happily one last time. Slowly, the Juubi disappeared; absorbed by the ground she was laying on, until nothing remained of her.

The Shinobi Island vegetation and wildlife became noticeably more vibrant, like the Juubi's chakra was a growth stimulant. In a matter of weeks, all the ruins were overtaken by vegetation, green hiding away the concrete and stone until no clue remained that there ever was civilization there at all.

Naruko stayed in the completely void island for three years, exploring every single country, until the curiosity got the best of her. The ocean that bordered the Elemental Nations, according to a scroll she had found, lead to another Continent. Or so the rumours said: the scroll was a bit shady, but she figured she didn't have anything to lose.

Naruko built herself a rickety boat -her specialty lied in other fields than shipbuilding- and sailed away, leaving behind her the Nations where memories and animals cohabitated, a barren Eden of sorts. Once she was a safe distance away, she casted a massive Genjutsu dome, to keep everyone away and to leave the Shinobi Continent untouched so it could serve as a hideout. But mostly, she didn't' want the memories of her friends to be disturbed by curious archaeologists. No doubt they'd ravage the island to find clues on the Shinobi Civilization, and Naruko preferred to be safe than sorry.

And when she reached land, it was like she had landed in a different world or in the past: the civilization there were far less advanced than she! They lived in cities, but they had no electricity. They spoke a strange language, filled with strange words. Their writing was from left to right, and it was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

Soon, she learned that their country was called "France", and their language, "French". She learnt it, and could now speak it quite fluently. Not that she needed to, since she avoided speaking and human contact, period. She survived by stealing food, and she lived in a tree house in a nearby forest, surrounded by seals to ward off people. She later added a little garden to grow her won produce. Naruko couldn't quite face casual social interactions, because nightmares of what had transpired only too recently still, terrorized her at night. So she took to observing them from the cover of the canopy of trees.

To her dismay, the people here did not even have an ounce of chakra. After a few days' research, she reasonably assumed that shinobi did not exist on this continent. But something else was there, something that she hadn't seen ever before: dozens of odd creatures floated around, apparently unseen by the local populace. Some were even breathed in by people casually walking by, who promptly started coughing violently until the furry creature was spit out again or until they died, days later.

She affectionately called them Fuzzies, because of the soft fur that covered their small bodies. They had an endearing tendency to grab whatever was touching them with tiny-clawed hands. The Fuzzies were cute as Hell, yes, but also dangerous.

As time wore on, Naruko kept finding new creatures. There was colony of small, roundish creatures, mounted on short legs with a small pointed tail that were attracted to rotten carcasses and milk, which lived nearby. Once you got over their nasty tendency to bite fingers that strayed too close to their mouths, they were actually quite cute, and behaved like cats. Every morning, she had at least three of them, clamouring for food and petting with wide yellow eyes at the base of the tree. She would play with them for a bit and give them a bit of food, before starting her own breakfast. The creatures then played inside her home for a while, before making a small nest of clothes they found soft and sleeping there. She called them Tricksters, as they had the adorable tendency to play harmless pranks on random people.

Another race of creature she saw were little green men: they were very shy, so she had to approach them silently, otherwise they would flee. Slowly, but surely, she managed to get in their good graces when she started to make compost for her own little garden. It seemed they were heavily linked with plants, and so relished the compost. As way of thanks, they helped out with her garden, making her plants grow far faster than they should normally and produce beautiful fruits. She would also find gifts of fruit or nuts next to the base of the tree she lived in. It seemed the Green Men were a pacific race : she had never seen one of them attack something else.

She noted any and all observations she had on them as a side-hobby. Mostly, Naruko spent her days training on Mt Myoboku, leaving a few clones to read up on the collection of scrolls she had gathered. The Toads had offered their condolences, and had answered any questions she had acting as a substitute family to her.

It was through them that Naruko learned that she had survived because she was a Sage and a Jinchuuriki. As a Sage, a good part of Natural Chakra ran continually through her veins, residue from her Sage Mode. As a Jinchuuriki since birth, her chakra was constantly mixed with Kyuubi's chakra, little by little to let her body adapt to the harsh nature of demonic chakra. Since the Juubi was incomplete, missing both the Hachibi and the Kyuubi, she was technically blind. She couldn't _see _per se, but she could track human chakra better than a bloodhound could sniff out prey. Instead of seeing Naruko as a human, and a threat, she saw a Demon like herself, the human chakra being obscured by the much more potent demonic and natural chakra. The Toads had no clue about why the Juubi had called her 'Onee-chan'. They had advanced a few hypotheses, but none of them seemed entirely plausible.

Time passed, and her knowledge grew and grew. So did her relationship between Kurama and her. At first, it was mutual grudging respect. Then, it became genuine friendship. And then, the friendship grew into romance. Now, she had been claimed as his mate, and he as hers: this was, for demons, the equivalent of marriage. The mating ritual prevented other demons from laying their claim on the same person, and constituted a barrier against foreign influences. Of course, she didn't have sex with a giant fox. No, she wasn't in bestiality: Kurama was not a fox. Well, not really. As a chakra construct, he could assume whatever form he wanted. He just decided to take on the form of a fox. Most of the time now, he spent them as a relatively human looking male, with short shaggy red hair, and red eyes. His ears were slightly pointed, and so were his teeth, but other than that, he looked completely human. Her garden flourished under her and the Green Men's care, and more and more Tricksters came clamouring for food each day. She took up more side-hobbies like sewing, cooking, metalworking, Jutsu creating, flower pressing and medicine. She allowed herself a visit sometimes to the town that was spreading along quite nicely next to the forest, selling a few of the products of her garden under multiple Henge disguises.

And as each year passed, one thing became glaringly obvious: she was not aging. She knew a lot of time had passed when she came into town and found that the children she had seen running in the streets had become adults and had conceived children themselves, whom were already quite grown up. Yet she hadn't grown an inch, and her skin remained smooth and supple, glowing with life.

Her immortality was attributed to the joint Uzumaki not-bloodline, Jinchuuriki Regeneration and Sage training, which gave her near-perfect regeneration, and an iron cast health. She was immune to any illnesses and didn't age, but she was still mortal: if her heart was taken out of her body or her head was cut off, then she'd die. But you had to know that Naruko would make damn sure that neither of those actually happened.

She had added a few Jutsus to her arsenal; most of those invented or learnt recently, and her Frog Kata had immensely improved, due to the intense training from the Toads. She could now fight toe to toe with Kurama without the aid of her mother, both of them going all out. Of course, they fought inside her mindscape, as Naruko doubted the locals would overlook a mountain-sized fox with nine tails fighting with a girl and seemingly losing. Her strategy improved too, with the coaching of Kurama, the sly fox that he was. They played shogi for days, and meditated together. He even taught her how to model her mental plane from the sewers she had before to the much more comfortable (and cliché) rolling hills dotted with flowers under a clear blue sky where a few cottony clouds floated lazily. A light breeze swayed the grass gently, and a few trees provided shelter from the warm sun that shined happily from its place high in the sky.

Years passed, and Naruko knew it was time to move on. She had grown bored with France, had finished reading her entire stock of scrolls, and decided to travel the world as a hermit. Well, not a complete hermit, since she was with Kurama but no one knew that. She was looking at a map that apparently depicted the world.

_Where should we go to, Kurama?_

_**Bah, I don't care. Just not somewhere too hot, I don't like heat.**_

_You're a fire-aligned demon, Kurama, and you can't stand a little heat? That's ridiculous. But fine. I'll just pick randomly in the northern hemisphere. _

Naruko closed her eyes, tracing her finger along the top half of the map and chanting 'Plouf, plouf, une boule en or, c'est toi qui sort, au bout de trois! Un, deux, trois!', a silly couple of rhymes that she had overheard from a few French children.

_Japan it is, then. _

_**I heard the culture was similar to the Shinobi Civilization. Maybe the ancestors of the Elemental Countries came from there?**_

_Maybe. It doesn't matter._

Kurama knew better than to push the subject further: the Genocide was still a sore subject, even after all those years, and Naruko's temper, once provoked, was explosive.

After sealing all of her possessions in a scroll, Naruko and Kurama set off for the Land of the Rising Sun, passing by the European and Asian continents, and then taking a ship to cross the sea that separated 'China' and 'Japan'. In the end, she had settled in the northern Japanese region of Akita.

It was there she met Yuri. Quite by accident, Naruko remembered. She had been making friends with the local Creature population, a mix of Tricksters and a new variant of the Green Men she called 'White Men', when a girl had caught her petting the Tricksters.

These Tricksters were extra fluffy and soft because of the cold weather, and it was bliss to run your hand through them. They even smelt like cinnamon!

"Who are you?" a curious, inquisitive voice piped up out from the blue.

Naruko startled badly and let the Trickster drop from her embrace, quickly reaching for a kunai in her thigh pouch. She crouched lightly, ready at any moment top ounce and dispatch someone when she realized that the one who had spoken was a young woman, of a bout nineteen years old. The girl quickly put her hands up, showing she meant no harm.

"I'm sorry I startled you! I didn't mean to! I was just on my way to feed my friends, when I saw you there, petting them! Who are you?" she quickly blurted, scared by Naruko's aggressive reaction. The blonde container relaxed, and put her kunai back in her pouch. She stood up fully, judging the girl as harmless and raised a blond eyebrow.

"If you want my name, then you should give me yours first. It's only polite, you know." Yes, she was shamelessly plagiarizing Sasuke's speech to Neji before the Chuunin Exams.

"Yeah right! Why should I give my name to a shady character like you? I'm not gonna give you my name, until I know yours!" The girl shouted boisterously, pointing an accusing finger at her dramatically before crossing her arms and nodding.

"Hmm. Is that so? Well, then. None of us know each other's name. I'll give you a nickname. Brat," Naruko paused thoughtfully before nodding, "Yes, that'll fit you like a glove."

"H-hey! Then, I'll give you one too! Moron!"

Naruko raised an eyebrow, unimpressed, before turning back to the Trickster she had dropped who was now looking at her accusingly. She crouched down, and gave it a scratch behind its tiny ears, and the Trickster purred with contentment.

"Aka-kun seems to really like you," Brat noted with a hint of amazement in her voice," Normally, he doesn't warm up to strangers that quickly. None of the Goblins ever do."

"The what?"

"The Goblins," at Naruko's blank look, she elaborated. "The creature you're petting. It's a Goblin, and they're the kin of the Earth King. Geez, didn't you listen in Exorcist Class?"

"Oh, so that's what they're called. I called them Tricksters, 'cause they played pranks on people all the time. And I'm sorry, but I've never gone to one of those "Exorcist Classes" you speak of."

Brat's eyes widened. During their exchange, she had slowly approached the single White Man in the group of creatures, and was now playing with him in the snow. "Moron, you're not an Exorcist? But how? How can you see the demons then?"

"They're _demons?_ And I'm not an Exorcist, no. I've never heard of any Exorcists, period. Are you one?"

Brat's chest puffed up in pride. "Yes, yes I am. I'm a Exwire. Oh, right Moron. You don't know the Rankings. Umm, it's about the second promotion from the bottom, and there are eleven promotions in total," the younger girl looked determined. "My dream is to be a great Doctor: they're the Exorcists who take care of the wounded!"

"A worthy goal, I'm sure."

Naruko stood up, and brushed off the snow that the Goblin had kicked up while playing in it from her jacket.

"I have to go," with that she began to make her way towards the edge of the forest until a voice interrupted her.

"Yuri Egin, that's my name. Now, you have to give me yours!"

"Naruko Uzumaki is mine. A pleasure meeting you, Egin-chan," and she disappeared in flurry of displaced snow, but not before having given a lazy two-fingered salute.

The next day, Naruko and Yuri met up again to play with the demons. They talked a bit, bantered lightly, and exchanged random tips. Naruko slowly opened up, and talked about her life as a shinobi, leaving out all the gruesome details for the young girl. In return, Yuri talked about her overbearing father, her classmates in the Exorcist class and the duty of all Exorcists. They bonded over the fact that neither of them were particularly well accepted by their peers- Naruko because she had none except Kurama, and Yuri because of her ideals.

Time passed, and Yuri and Naruko became very close as friends. Naruko finally revealed everything about her past life to Yuri, who in turn revealed that her father was a cardinal.

One day, Yuri came back to their meeting place after the weeklong mission she had been sent on, looking extremely tired. When asked why, she made Naruko promise to never, _ever _reveal what she was going to say after that. The blonde agreed warily, waiting to hear the secret.

"I'm housing Satan," the youngest girl finally revealed, letting blue flames burst forth from her body in dangerous plumes.

Naruko gaped. "How? When? And why?"

Once the blue flames calmed down, Yuri explained everything: during a mission to investigate spontaneous combustions, Satan had attempted to possess her teammates, ultimately killing them. Satan was the cause of the combustions, since any vessel he attempted to possess eventually was consumed by his immense power, the blue flames. When Satan tried to possess Yuri, the flames didn't harm her, but he didn't stay. Yuri looked for him for days, looking for answers. She eventually found him, and empathized with him, taking pity on the fact that everything he tried touched was fated to be consumed.

"You let him possess you?" Naruko asked incredulously. "How aren't you affected by the blue flames?"

"Yes! I did let him possess me. I taught him about life and death, and with him I explored the world! It was wonderful!" Yuri sighed dreamily before she stiffened. "Stan wants to talk to you, I'm letting him possess me fully. Please don't hurt him."

Blue flames sprouted all over Yuri's body, and her ears sharpened to points. Her irises became like pinwheels, and her pupils became the colour of freshly spilt blood.

"**You're the Naruko Yuri was talking about? You look weak! Gyahahahaha!" **Yuri's voice had become distorted, like someone was talking exactly at the same time, but at a lower pitch. "**You don't even look like a demon!**"

Naruko snapped at this, and Kurama lent her his chakra. Soon enough, her teeth had sharpened to points, her eyes had turned scarlet and her whole body was covered in red, bubbling noxious chakra. Naruko growled viciously.

"**What are your plans for Yuri? Even if she does trust you, I don't!**"

The demon that possessed Yuri looked taken aback before Yuri's lips stretched into a smile that didn't belong on her. It chuckled, "**So you are a demon? And a pretty fucking strong one, too. Normally, my killer intent alone should have made a lesser demon bow before me. As for my plans for Yuri, I don't have any. I'm enjoying the wonders of Assiah, something I could never do, not with those fucking weak vessels. So shut up, will ya?"**

Naruko sensed no lie from the demon, and released her hold on Kurama's chakra. It flowed back into her, and she sat down calmly, beckoning the demon to sit down next to her.

For about an hour, they talked about demons, their nature, and something Naruko was curious about but had never found an answer to: where did the demons come from? According to Satan, they were surpluses of energy, which slowly acquired sentiency. Being energy, they had no physical bodies. Gehenna was dimension where they could roam free, and which they called home. To go to Assiah, the physical world, they had to take over a physical body. Lesser demons took over lesser bodies, like lizards and cats, and strong demons could take over humans. Satan cut their conversation short when Yuri began to develop burns on her body due to his long-term possession. The Demon King relinquished its hold on Yuri, and she fainted immediately. It seemed being taken over was exhausting for humans, as she slept an entire day away.

* * *

That was the last time Naruko had any contact at all with Yuri. The next day, Yuri was gone because of a mission in the south of Japan.

Years later, when Naruko learnt of the accidental death of the girl she had been proud to call her best friend, she went into mourning and created a memorial in the middle of the meadow where they first met. It was simple: a tombstone, engraved with the name Yuri Egin, and an epitaph that read: 'A dear friend, with dreams and hopes grander and more beautiful than this ugly reality. May you rest in peace.'

Naruko spent a while investigating Yuri's death, but whatever she found told her that Yuri had died in a dreadful car accident. It seemed suspicious: Satan would never have left Yuri to die, never. And then there was the Blue Night: a night, where Satan went literally crazy, and massacred every head of clergy there was.

Her investigation led her to meet Mephisto Pheles, a high-ranking guy in the Demon hierarchy. The demon was, if he was to be believed, one of the eight demon sons of Satan, and the King of Space and Time. He did not help her at all in her investigation, preferring to follow her loosely, and dropping cryptic hints there and there that made no sense at all. The fact that he knew who and what Kurama was, was terribly disconcerting, but the worst was that he treated the investigation and the lives of those around him as a game or some other form of entertainment. It reminded too strongly of Orochimaru to leave her completely comfortable around the goofy demon., and so, she did her best to find clues everywhere _except_ where he was. It took her around fifteen years to realize that unfortunately, the best lead she had been Mephisto himself. And that led to her enrolment in the True Cross Academy, and her current situation.

Three hours had passed since the beginning of her reminiscing, and her first class was starting in fifteen minutes. Soon, she would be able to piece together the truth about what happened fifteen years ago.

* * *

**Voila, finished it. Sorry for the info-dump, but I wanted to get Naruko's past out of the way. Basically it's this; **

**Obito looses control of Juubi. **

**Juubi scared of humans, kills them all. **

**Doesn't kill Naruko, because Naruko= Jinchuriki+Sage. **

**Naruko only survivor of Shinobi Continent. Since Shinobi Contient is near the coast of France, and Naruko leaves Shinobi Continent, she ends up in France. **

**France is in the 1600, therefore not very advanced. **

**Naruko leaves France after 400 years of staying in one place. Why stay in one place so long? Because of the whole Jutsu Library. **

**Chooses Japan with the french version of Eenie Miny Moe. **

**Doesnt take airplanes because she doesn't have papers. **

**Goes to Akita. **

**Meets Yuri while befrieding demon population. **

**Makes friends with Yuri. **

**Yuri finds Satan, befriends and falls in love with him.**

** Yuri leaves Akita, when she's not even one month pregnant with Yukio and Rin. **

**One year later, Shiro comes to confront her about lifestyle (ep 23 of Blue Exorcist). **

**Yuri gets trialed, and death-sentenced. **

**Ensues the Blue Night, as Satan tries to save her. **

**Satan can't possess Naruko because of Kurama's claim on her. **

**Yuri's death is covered up as an accident to prevent the tainting of the Egin name. Yukio and Rin's existance is also covered up. Naruko tries to find evidence, but everything is extremely well covered up; figures if they can hide the exorcists' existance from the rest of the world, they can cover up the death of Yuri. **

**Mephisto knows what happened, and taunts Naruko with hints and clues to draw her into his game. Naruko resists the tentation for fiteen years, but finally gives in. **

**She goes to True cross Academy.**

**Voila! Hope you didin't choke on all this info, because I swear the next chapter will be moe interesting. This was necessary, unfortunately.**

**Cheers, Tetris Remix.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello guys, and welcome to chapter three of Inner Demons! Your reviews and faves made me feel all fuzzy and warm, like hot chocolate on a winter night! So thank you, for the lovely review/fave goodness! **

**To HikaruWinter: Ants are okay, but spiders CREEP. ME. OUT. **

**Sanddrake 111 : Juubi was absorbed into the Earth, coming back from whence it came from. By the way, for me, Demonic Energy is mostly Natural Chakra: it exists everywhere, and demons are sentient masses of Natural Chakra.  
**

**Majischan: She'll probably flip out. Like, Flip Out with capital letters.  
**

**Tetra Tortoise: The story is alive! Mwahahahahaha! And it's okay. It took me along time to churn the second chapter out due to its massiveness.**

* * *

Anxiety was a feeling Naruko had not felt in a very long time. In a few minutes, she would be starting her Exorcist Training, and her infiltration of the true Cross Exorcist Order.

She needed to be inconspicuous, but still move through the ranks. Most probably, she would find out the truth about Yuri in a few years, if she played her cards right. Problem was, if she showed too much promise, it would gain the attention of the higher ups: they would pester her, and she would be found out. If she slacked off, she'd get kicked out. She had to be in the upper tier of the class: good but not the first.

Also, she had to put up a front to hide her personality: jaded teenagers who talked like they were four hundred years old were strange and unusual, and drew unwanted attention.

She could channel her old irritating self, but that wouldn't attract friends, which were good attention diverters. She definitely couldn't be like Shika, a lazy genius, or Chōji, a food-lover. Gai and Lee were eccentric, to say the least, so they were out. Sasuke was balanced, but the aloof genius act would grate on her nerves in the end, so he was out. Same with Sakura or Ino. Hinata was on the complete opposite of her spectrum, character wise, and it would be annoying to mimic stuttering all the time. Asuma…

Hmm, Asuma would be perfect, with a few traits from the old Naruko to add authenticity: she could be easy to anger, but mostly friendly, making friends easily and be an above-average student.

Yes, that would do fine.

Earlier, she had found a note from Mephisto on her desk. Ignoring the perfume that pervaded the paper and made her nose burn, she read it.

_Dear Naruko-chan,_

_How are you settling in? Well, I hope. Attached to the back of the note is a key. It will open every door, and transform it into a portal leading directly to your classroom. Don't be late for your first class, _

_Your dearest Mephy-chan. _

_PS: The lily lives on. _

A small drawing depicting a chibi Mephisto blowing a kiss was drawn at the bottom of the page.

The abomination was quickly dispatched via a small Katon Jutsu, while Naruko thought over the cryptic hint left by Mephisto. "Yuri" meant lily in Japanese, so that part was obvious: Mephisto was talking about Yuri. "Lives on" could mean she continued to live through her father, Ernest Frederic Egin, or in Naruko's memories. It could even mean that her ideals were passed on. But she already knew that. Why did Mephisto feel the need to bring up the fact that Ernest Egin was still alive?

She'd think about it later, when she would have time. Now though, she had her first class.

* * *

When Naruko opened the door with the magical skeleton key, she expected something that ranged from an orderly, ancient-styled dojo, to a modern training room, complete with pool, workout machines and the like. The students? They'd be serious teenagers, with hard-faces, and a few battle scars, sitting in orderly rows before the sensei, a fit middle-aged man… with a beard.

What she saw was severely disappointing to say the least. Naruko had half a mind to say she was sorry, and that she had come into the wrong class, because goddamnit, the future Exorcists were _not_ taught in an abandoned classroom with a _teenager_ for a sensei, and she was quite certain that kimonos _weren't _adapted to Exorcist schoolwork. At all. And was this guy _napping _during the lesson? And was that one of Sakura's long lost relatives, sitting next to a punk?

"Ahh! You must be the new student. Come in! We were waiting for you."

Damn it. This _was _the Exorcist Cram Class.

The too young sensei smiled warmly and beckoned her forwards to the middle of the class. He seemed too small for his clothes, as if the standard Exorcist coat was going to swallow him up. An Exorcist Coat that was buttoned up smartly and sharply, all the way to the top. Black trousers that fell exactly to the sensei's ankles, covering heavy-duty boots that shined, obviously well cared for. A clean, crisp white shirt with a properly tied official tie.

_So, a stickler for the rules?_

"Class, this is Naruko Uzumaki. The Chairman saw fit to let her enrol, and she will be attending the classes from now on. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Naruko studied his face intensely. She had a nagging feeling she'd seen it somewhere before. The teenager was becoming uncomfortable with her intense staring so she stopped and faced the surprisingly half-empty class.

"Hello, as you know already, my name is Naruko Uzumaki. My likes are ramen, training, cooking, taking walks and gardening. I dislike arrogant people, those who abandon their dreams in the face of adversity, intolerance and prejudice. My dream for the future…" Naruko paused, before channelling Kakashi. "Is none of your business. My hobbies are training and gardening. I think that people who disobey orders are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. Please take care of me," she finished with a small bow.

"Ahaha! Right. That was a pretty detailed introduction, Miss Uzumaki. My name is Okumura Yukio. You may call me "Okumura-sensei"," said the boy, who had yet to grow a single hair on his chin. "Now, let's get you settled down. You can sit next to Yamada-san. Yamada-san, could you please lift your hand so Uzumaki-san can see who you are?"

The person farthest away from the blackboard lifted their hand from dropping it back to the games consol he/she was playing with. Naruko padded over to the designated space and slid into her seat silently. 'Yamada' made no move to socialise with her.

Once he was sure she was settled down, Okumura-sensei started talking about the upcoming Exwire Exams. He talked about the position itself, and what their duties would be if they passed the Exam. Knowing all about it already through Yuri's ramblings about the Exorcists, Naruko drifted off, looking through the windows, outside.

She immediately snapped back to attention when she heard her name.

-are you specialized in, Naruko-san ?"

"Well, Okumura-sensei… I'm good in hand-to-hand combat. My aiming skills are pretty good, but I suck at memorizing long texts. I don't want to be a doctor, but I have basic medical knowledge. To be honest, I don't really know which fields I'm going to take."

"Have you taken any tests? Exams, maybe?" he ventured, eyes assessing her.

Naruko shrugged casually. "Can't say that I have."

"Well. That's about to change. I need to have a clear idea of your skills, so I'm gong to arrange a series of tests. Is that alright with you?" Okumura-sensei asked.

Naruko nodded, not really caring.

_As long as it's not like the Chunin Exams…_

Okumura-sensei took out a folder from the briefcase on his desk and thumbed through it quickly. "Your next class will be with Tsubaki-sensei. I will arrange it so that he will test you on the physical aspects… and that your next class with Neuhaus-sensei will test your summoning. And Mademoiselle Beaumont will test your Verses. Also, tomorrow, I will test you on your theoretical knowledge of Demonic Pharmaceuticals. That way, we will judge what ranking you are, since you have had training before, and what field you should head towards," he smiled warmly before going back to his desk and proclaiming, "Class is finished. Exceptionally, you have no homework, since Uzumaki-san doesn't have her books, and therefore can't do it. Dismissed."

Everyone stood up and started packing, all but the pink-haired boy she had noticed when entering in class. He sauntered towards her, deliberately puffing out his chest to make it seem bigger. Reluctantly, she faced the boy who was smiling cockily at her.

"Heeey, you must be Naruko-chan! I'm Shima Renzo. Want to go out with me?"

Naruko stared at him. Was he serious?

"I've only just met you. Why would I go out with you?" she deadpanned.

Renzo's smile faltered for a second but he continued on nevertheless.

"Well… Because I'm sexy," he boasted. "And you are too." He added as an afterthought.

He was serious. He was _genuinely_ serious. He was **totally**, _genuinely _serious.

"I'm sorry but I'm already dating someone."

_**Damn right you are! If he so much as touches you, he's a dead over-evolved ape walking. **_

_Touchy, touchy, Kurama-chan._

The boy fell to the ground, crushed by the rejection. It reminded her of herself when she asked that one guy out over and over again, only to be rejected every time.

"Hey..." she tentatively poked him with her finger as she crouched down to better study his twitching face. "Are you OK? Shima-san?"

Shima shook himself from his gloom-fest and jumped up suddenly, like a demented jack-in-a-box.

"Come on! I'll introduce you to the others!" he grabbed her hand and began dragging her, chatting animatedly all the while. It was like Renzo had completely forgotten about the earlier refusal.

Naruko could have used her strength to stay rooted on the spot, but she let the pink-haired boy drag her towards the guy with the blonde streak in his hair. She wasn't going to let Kurama's over protectiveness ruin her chance at making attention-diverters.

"Right, Naruko-chan! Do you mind if I call you Naruko-chan?" Renzo asked. She shook her head. "All right! Call me Renzo, then. Well, this is Suguro Ryuuji! We call him Bon though!" He leaned down to loudly whisper in her ear, "He may act tough but he's a real softie!"

Said Ryuuji face became red and bashed his fist against Shima's head, making the boy fall flat on his face. Again. _Wow. What a softie. _

"Tch. Name's Ryuuji if you wanna call me something. _Not _Bon." He extended his hand for a handshake and she shook it firmly, adding a bit more force than was necessary and silently relishing the look of pain on his face.

Kurama had _not _affected her personality in any way, shape or form. She just found pleasure in the fact that she could make people suffer is all. The fact that this is widely known as sadism, and that Kurama just happens to have a mile wide sadistic streak in his personality has no connection to that. No, no. None at all.

"Well, you already know my name."

A small boy, even smaller than her, stuttered out his name timidly. He was wearing glasses, and seemed pleasant enough, "I-I'm Miya Konekomaru. It's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san." He bowed formally to her and she bowed back.

"Nice to meet you too, Konekomaru. Please: call me, Naruko."

The boy flushed at her use of his first name so early after their meeting but didn't seem to mind all that much. If Hinata was a boy, and had next to no hair, and wore glasses, this would be she. "O-okay, Naruko."

"You guys are an embarrassment," A haughty voice called out from behind her."Falling all over a girl like that. I bet she's nothing special, and she's just boasting. Aren't you, Foreigner?"

The voice belonged to a rather petite girl with plum hair, tied into pigtails. Her skin was abnormally pale, and she had dark red eyes, and strange eyebrows eerily reminiscent of those of the ladies in the Edo period. The girl's fair face was twisted into a demeaning scowl, and her arms were crossed over her chest: an aggressive position if she had ever seen one.

A long time ago, Naruko would have slugged the girl good in her face. But a good period of time had passes since her impulsive days, and Naruko simply raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. Did I offend you in some way?"

The girl narrowed her eyes, and took a step forward before spitting out her answer viciously, "You think you're so good, but you're not! You're just a little girl, who has no idea what's going on! You just enrolled in the middle of the term!" Oh dear. Was it possible that Inari had gotten reincarnated?

"I think I have a good grip on reality, if that's what you're implying. I enrolled here in the middle of the term because I had no other choice."

"Those who aren't serious in becoming an Exorcist, should just quit!"

And with that she stomped off, pigtails swinging behind her.

Naruko whistled. "Who is she? And why was she so angry?"

Ryuuji shook his head. "That's Kamiki Izumo. She's always been kinda high-and-mighty, but recently, her friend, Paku, left the class. I think she blames Paku for dropping the Exorcist Cram School. On another note, you haven't met Rin and Shiemi, right?" "Who?"

Suguro picked up his books, and stood up, imitated by Konekomaru. He jerked his chin towards the front of the class where a blond girl, the one in a kimono, was unsuccessfully attempting to gently wake up a boy who was snoring, face squished against the desk. Naruko approached the blond girl, whom she assumed was Shiemi.

"Hello, my name is-"

"SUKIYAKI!"

The boy she assumed to be Rin, had stood up, eyes glittering and smiling like all his dreams had come true. He was the guy on the bridge. Crap.

When he realized that there wasn't any sukiyaki around, he quieted down immediately, and discreetly wiped at the drool that had pooled on his chin during his sleep. Rin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, chuckling nervously because of his embarrassing outburst.

"Aah! I was just thinking there was no sukiyaki around. That's why I shouted sukiyaki. Yeah, that's why," he played it off lamely. "It's totally not because I was dreaming of sukiyaki."

"Okay!" Shiemi chirped happily, believing the half-baked lie totally before she turned around and ending up eye-to-eye with Naruko. (Somewhere in the background, Ryuuji face palmed soundly.) Shiemi blinked owlishly then broke out into an enormous close-eyed smile, bowing quickly to Naruko, nearly head butting her.

"Oh! You're Naruko-chan! Welcome to the True Cross Academy! I'm Moriyama Shiemi. Do you want to be my friend?"

Naruko took a step back, a bit stunned by the onslaught of questions.

"Su-"

A shout interrupted her, "You!"

Rin finally recognized Naruko as the girl on the bridge. He was pointing his finger dramatically at her.

"Yes...? Me?" Naruko played the act of the girl who was completely innocent, complete with wide blue puppy eyes.

"You're the girl I met yesterday! On the road! You have the same whiskers!" Rin was still shouting loudly, slightly red in the face.

"No, I don't! They're birthmarks, idiot!" Naruko growled. This wasn't acting, she was truly angry. No one insulted her birthmarks like that and got away with it!

"They're weird!"

"No, they're not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are-"

"Hehehe… You guys should calm down…" Renzo put in, chuckling nervously, and putting his hands on their respective shoulders to prevent them from attacking each other. During the fight, they had unconsciously gravitated towards each other until they were face to face, each holding the other's collar. "You're gonna wreck the classroom, otherwise, and I'm not sure Okumura-sensei would like that…"

Naruko sighed, before letting go of Rin's collar and dusting invisible lint off of the school's official cardigan. Looking up in Rin's oh-so-familiar blue yes, she apologized. "You're right. I'm sorry. Let's start this whole thing over again," she admitted. "My name is Naruko Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you, and I apologize for my rash behaviour. It was stupid of me to act this way."

Rin looked a tiny bit suspicious, but he returned the introduction and apology with a tiny grin. "No harm done. I'm Rin Okumura. I'm sorry for the bridge; I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"You're forgiven. Okumura… Any relation to Okumura-sensei?"

The blue-eyed boy's grin only widened, and he exuded pride. "He's my twin brother! He's the youngest exorcist to ever graduate, but I swear I'll surpass him, someday!"

Konekomaru interrupted timidly from his place next to Ryuuji, "Hey, everyone…. I don't mean to interrupt… But if we don't hurry, we'll be late for next class…"

Ryuji checked his watch and confirmed it gruffly, "He's right. Let's go."

All the Exorcists left the room, Shiemi trailing after them a bit slower due to her impractical kimono. Noticing this, Naruko slowed down to let her catch up.

"Before Rin interrupted me, I wanted to say 'Sure'. I'll be your friend, Shiemi-chan. Question is, will you be mine, too?"

Shiemi, eyes misty, bobbed her head furiously up and down.

"That's great! What's your favourite colour? Mine's orange. But blue is nice, too... Hmm, I guess it's a tie. What about you?"

"It's green! Earlier, you said you liked gardening. What's your favorite flower..."

Shiemi walked next to Naruko as they left the classroom chatting happily, her smile more genuine and her head held a tiny bit higher, now that she had her first friend.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. The story will be based on the anime, since the manga is very long, and has a lot more twists and turns. It's simpler to add crossover elements when the story isn't too complicated.  
**

**Question: If you could play prank on one character, from either Blue Exorcist _or _Naruto, which one would it be and what prank would you play on him? I would prank Amaimon, with candy dipped in chilli sauce ^^**

**Cheers, Tetris Remix**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto, or Blue Exorcist. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't change sides sporadically like a freaking ADHD kid on sugar high. I want my super, jumbo, mammoth, mega, uber, ultra fucking awesome/amazing/ dramatic NARUTO VS SASUKE battle,** **damnit!**

* * *

"She feels weird."

Rin Okumura was lying in his bed, stewing in the sweltering heat of Japan's summer, occasionally hit by a waft of refreshing air, courtesy of the fan standing in the middle of the room. His face was scrunched up tightly, and if one could have seen his thoughts, they would've seen cogs slowly turning, clanking together mournfully in their sad attempt to produce a logical reasoning. It was a widely known fact that Rin did not use his head often.

His twin brother, Yukio Okumura, looked up from the homework he was doing at his desk and cocked an eyebrow. "Hm? What do you mean, Ni-san? Who feels weird?" he asked.

"I mean, the new girl. Naruko. I get this weird feeling around her," Rin paused, looking for words to describe the sensation he felt whilst standing next to the blonde new girl. "It's like… needles. But very dull, and hot."

Yukio chuckled, and scratched down an answer to a question, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Ohoho, Ni-san! Could you possibly be in love with her?"

Rin choked on his spit, spluttered and finally cried out, "Whaaaaat?! No, you Spotty Four Eyes! I don't love her, I love… Forget it, you wouldn't understand," Rin rolled on his side to face the wall. After a few seconds though, he sighed and started again hesitantly. "… D'you get the feeling she's acting… Fake? Plastic?"

Yukio had by now abandoned his homework totally, and was leaning back into the back of his chair, his arms crossed behind his head. "I don't know about her lying, but she did act strangely. When she saw my face, she looked like she recognized me, but I'm certain I've never met her before…" He trailed off.

"Strange."

Yukio hummed pensively, now frowning. Rin was a demon, and as such, had better instincts than humans. If he thought something was weird with the blonde girl, then he'd definitely keep an eye on Naruko Uzumaki.

* * *

_Two days ago, during Naruko's tests… _

"Hello, and welcome to your first Exam, Uzumaki-san. My name is Tsubaki-sensei and I will be testing your physical form, as I'm sure Okumura-sensei has already mentioned to you."

Naruko and the other students were standing in the bleachers of an arena that looked kind of like the one where the Chunin Exam had taken place, so many years ago in Konoha. Naruko shivered imperceptibly as she remembered what had happened last time she had underwent an official Exam. She shook herself: there was no Orochimaru here, and the worst she could face here was an angry teenager. She focused back on Tsubaki-sensei.

He was strange to say the least; the man exuded an aura of stupidity and his appearance left much to be desired in the realm of credibility. Thick eyebrows eerily similar to a spandex-wearing Beast's, a chin that was way too defined to be normal and thick, bushy side-burns made for an odd portrait, indeed.

But his movements told an entirely different story. The guy was a trained warrior; skilled in hand-to-hand combat, if his fluid movements and guarded countenance were anything to go by. He had also survived quite a few battles – scars crisscrossed under his freshly shaven beard.

"Okay, Tsubaki-sensei! I'm all for it! What's my exam gonna be?" Naruko exclaimed, pumping her fist.

Tsubaki-sensei beamed at her enthusiasm, before sobering and clearing his throat, "You will have to evade the attacks of an increasing amount of demons, trying to stay unharmed for the longest amount of time possible. Retaliation will only be allowed after a set time: that way, we will examine your endurance, your speed and finally your hand-to-hand combat, all at once. Then, you will have to undergo an exam on accuracy, where you will attempt to hit the maximum of targets with your designated long-distance weapon," his serious demeanor faded and he grinned, flashing a thumbs-up. "Good luck!"

From behind Naruko someone whispered, "It's the longest I've ever seen Tsubaki-sensei act serious, _ever._"

Naruko slowly climbed down the ladder that led into the dusty pit, feeling the gaze of everyone focusing on her, and slightly malicious intent burrowing into the back of her head. Kamiki, obviously, was getting internally ready to see the snot get beaten out of her.

In front of her lay a system of cages, where different demons were trapped, pacing around like caged lions. When she touched the dust of the floor with a light tap, their gazes focused on her with an eerie synchronization. Some let loose pleading whines, but Naruko gritted her teeth and ignored them. They, for now, were the enemy. Maybe, afterwards, she'd free them.

Shiemi, who cheered from her place, broke her musings. "Come on, Naruko-can! You can do it!" Rin and Renzo joined in with the cheering, albeit less actively than their classmate, who was really getting worked up. Hell, where did Shiemi find _pom-poms? _She was waving the things erratically, looking oddly like an epileptic person during a fit, only Moon-high.

Konekomaru just gave a timid thumbs-up from his place next to Ryuuji, who only nodded in her direction. Kamiki was looking down her nose at her, and smirking.

"Begin!"

Immediately, one of the cages opened up, and a demon jumped out, landing with a massive thump, and kicking up a cloud of dust. Naruko slipped into a battle stance, muscles tense to prepare to avoid the first blow, all the while assessing her opponent. She immediately blanched.

Why did she have to fight _frog _demons, of all things!? She was the Toad Sage, and weren't frogs somehow related to toads? What if this frog was a distant cousin of Gamakichi's? He'd murder her if he knew she'd beaten up his niece or something!

Oh, well. He'd have to forgive her.

She jumped to the side just in time to evade the Frog demon's tongue that had shot forward in an attempt to wrap around her waist. It/she/he was fast!

Naruko bolted, using the demon's recovery time to get behind it while still monitoring its actions.

Apparently, the Frog could do two things at the same time: its tail shot out to impale Naruko, but Naruko dropped in a crouch, before rolling backwards, out of the demon's reach. The demon's ugly head swiveled around, its tongue still lolling out, and its red eyes caught Naruko's own. It roared angrily, spittle actually flying into her face. Naruko shuddered and wiped it off quickly.

_Gross. Frog spit. _

The Low Class demon leaped forward towards Naruko, but instead of fleeing, she merely ran towards it. Stopping just before the demon, and ignoring the shouts of the other students, she jumped, landed on the demon's head and using it as a springboard, she front-flipped behind it. Naruko made sure to push hard with her legs, to momentarily stun the oversized frog and give her a momentary rest. When she landed, she retreated a couple more steps, just in case and crouched slightly, slipping in a battle ready position.

A clang and the rattle of chains signaled the entry of another demon into the ring. Naruko appraised it carefully; it was another of those Frog Thingies. This one though, was much larger and a little spark of intelligence glinted in its eyes. Carefully leaping out of the cage, it looked around the arena, and slowly padded over gingerly to join its stunned comrade. The new demon croaked lowly at the one that was slowly getting back up, apparently communicating, as the other soon grunted in what seemed to be agreement. Naruko narrowed her eyes; if they started coordinating, it would make her job that much more difficult.

They separated with a jump, one going behind her back and the other still facing her. So. They had a plan. It was basic and obvious: when she would be occupied with one of the demons, the other would attack her from behind, effectively disabling her. Too bad she was used to multiple opponents.

Froggie Numbah 1 leapt high in the air, intent on landing on her and crushing her with its substantial weight but she cart wheeled to the side. It belly-flopped to the ground with a smack that resonated painfully, making Naruko wince.

Suddenly, she threw herself to the ground. A second later, a slimy tongue swiped the air where her head had just been. Scrambling to her feet, she turned to face the still-standing Froggie Numbah 2, just as its tongue rolled back into its mouth with a disgusting slurp.

Kami, she wanted to fight back so bad! It was so _annoying_ to be on the defensive.

The demon capitalized on Naruko's feigned distraction, and lashed out with an arm. Naruko dropped to the ground, and rolled backwards twice before standing up again.

A cage to the side rattled and clanged and shook, before spitting out another demon.

This one was different, though: it looked like the rotting cadaver of a wolf, and brought with it the stench of decay. Naruko gagged a bit at the overpowering smell as the Cadaver sniffed the air. It let out a triumphant howl when it caught her scent and frothed madly at the mouth. Slowly, the demon turned its blind eyes towards her, and let out a drawn out growl, before leaping at her, sharp teeth bared to bite. Naruko grunted when the ghoul landed on her chest, toppling her over and pinning her to the ground. She quickly braced her forearm against the rotting flesh to prevent it from getting too close to biting her. Its saliva was probably contaminated with bazillions of different diseases.

The demon struggled, scratched at her chest with its claws and tried to snap at her face, its sharp teeth clacking together inches from her nose repeatedly but Naruko merely smirked at it. With a grunt, she pushed it off to the side and got to her feet, but not without having sneaked in a lightning fast kick to its ribs. The wolf landed hard on its side, and started struggling to get up.

Froggie Numbah Two and One decided that Naruko had ignored them long enough, and made their presence known by simultaneously trying to stomp her into the ground.

Two webbed feet smashed as one, but there was no cry of pain. Naruko had already rolled forwards and turned to face all four demons.

Finally, Tsubaki's voice called out, "You're now allowed to fight back!"

Naruko smiled like it was Christmas early.

_Payback time!_

Froggie Numbah 1 barely had time to blink when two feet smashed into its forehead in a perfectly executed dropkick. Its eyes rolled as it reeled from the blow. She landed on the ground in acrouch, before springing unto the back of Froggie Numbah 2. Immediately, she circled its head and torso (?) with her arms and legs, clinging like a koala clings to its eucalyptus tree. Of course, the demon began to shake like crazy, trying to buck her off, but Naruko held on, having the time of her life.

This was like rodeo, only with a giant frog! Finally, when the demon realized it wasn't going to shake her off, it tried to squash her by lying on its back. Naruko let go and jumped up. Grinning, she dropped an axe-kick straight into its exposed soft tummy. Spit flied from the Toad's mouth as its eyes rolled back into its head. The demon's tummy was squishy, warm and elastic, kind of like a trampoline.

Two down, one to go. Or more. Unless her vision was deceiving her, another decomposing wolf had joined the first one. _Yay_! A pack of zombie-wolves! They snarled, and saliva dripped from their jaw to the ground, smoke rising where the greenish liquid landed, like it was a powerful acid.

Acid saliva? Nice.

_Hmm_. _I think I'm going to stop now: if I defeat any more demons, they'd consider me a prodigy. And we know what that status brings onto us…_

_**Unwanted spotlight and attention. Naruko, I get it. You said that a thousand times when formulating your plans. Get on with it already.**_

Increasing her heartbeat and breathing pace was an easy task, and Kurama slowly poured some of his fire-natured chakra into her pathways, to increase her temperature. That way, she'd sweat, and would seem more believable. Naruko smirked mentally; _Infiltration missions are fun._

_**Technically, you aren't on a mission. **_

_Bah. Who cares? The only ones who know are you, me and that Mephisto._

The demons she was facing were unbearably slow and easy to beat compared to what she'd fought in her younger days, and it nearly pained her that she had to stop after this. However, her goal was more important than her pride, and it wasn't as if anyone from the old days would see this and laugh at her for it.

Naruko charged and punched the damn rotting thing in the throat. Or tried to anyways because the wolf had dodged to the side before springing back to her. She ducked and let the wolf sail over her, swaying slightly on purpose before lashing out with a heel kick that caught the wolf that had tried to sneak behind her in the ribs. The rotting bones cracked easily under the hard heel of her solid leather boots and the wolf slumped to the ground. Last one.

Naruko panted in short, deep breaths to make her act more convincing, and faced the last demon in the arena. It looked to its fallen comrade and back to Naruko before growling menacingly. It was angry.

_Sorry, _Naruko apologized. _But I have to knock you out. No hard feelings?_

Unsurprisingly, it didn't answer. Naruko figured it wouldn't.

Two minutes later, and the demon was on the ground, unconscious. Before Tsubaki-sensei could release yet another demon, Naruko raised her arm, while bending over in breathlessness.

"I," she gulped air greedily, "Can't go on.. I don't think I-I can defeat another one… Tsu-Tsubaki-sensei. I forfeit!"

No answer. Naruko looked upwards. Tsubaki-sensei was... gone.

"What the hell?! Where did he go?"

Renzo rubbed his head sheepishly. "Ahahahaha… He went away in the middle of your fight. He does that a lot." _That guy may act like ai but he's a really bad sensei.! Who leaves their students in the middle of a potentially dangerous fight? "_Speaking of, you're a really good fighter! You looked like a ninja!"

_That's 'cause I am one… Though you don't know that._

"Ahaha, thanks Renzo-kun," Naruko grinned up at him, before climbing the ladder again, and slumping on the seats of the bleachers.

"Kami, I'm tired. Does anyone have water?"

Naruko caught the bottle of water Rin threw her gratefully, uncapped it and gulped it down greedily. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gave the water gourd back to Rin, eyes closed in bliss.

"Thanks, Rin-kun. "

Rin squawked as he shook the gourd and didn't hear any water sloshing inside of it. "You drank all of it!"

"Sorry."

"You're not sorry at all! What about me? There's none left for me to drink!" He shook his gourd mournfully, "What if _I _get thirsty?"

Ryuuji growled viciously and shook his fist, "Stop shouting, moron! Can't you see she's tired? She needs to rest, you idiot! Plus, your bitching is giving me a headache!"

Rin rounded on Ryuji quicker than the eye could see. "What'd you say, chicken-head?"

"I said, you're a head-ache giving moron!"

"You're the moron!"

"You're the one shouting!"

"You're shouting, too, genius!"

Rin and Ryuuji butted heads, growling as they glared fiery death at one another.

Naruko smiled as she gradually caught her breath, and as her heartbeat slowed down.

Kurama chuckled mirthlessly. _**Feeling melancholic, Naruko? **_

_You gotta admit, Kurama: they're just like Sasuke and me._

_**They're as stupid as you and that Uchiha were, **_Kyuubi grumbled.

Naruko mock cried in indignation, _We were twelve! And we weren't dumb. _She added petulantly afterwards.

_**Fine; you were naïve. And so are they. **_

"That was really impressive, Naruko-chan…" Opening her eyes Naruko noticed Shiemi next to her. The girl was twisting her sleeves and Naruko smiled fondly.

"Thanks, Shiemi-chan. But it wasn't that impressive," Naruko said. "See, I'm all tired already!"

Shiemi laughed but her eyes were grim. "I wouldn't have lasted as long as you, Naruko-chan," she whispered, head and shoulders drooped.

The whiskered blond lost her easy-going smile immediately and nudged Shiemi with her leg to get her attention, "Hey Shiemi-chan. We're still Pages. Don't be so hard on yourself, okay? You know what they say: the littlest of acorns can grow into a mighty oak. Right now, we're still saplings, but one day, we're going to tower over the forest!"

_I already do. _

Shiemi brightened up considerably, and the grim look vanished from her eyes a bit. She opened her mouth and -

"Hello, my darling students! I'm back! My kitten didn't need me any more, so it's time to test your aiming skills, Naruko-chan!" Tsubaki-sensei leaped into the room and spun once on his feet before striking a Sailor-Moon-worthy pose.

"Where did you go, you bastard!? I could have been killed!" Naruko cried angrily as she stood up to face him and speared him with a patented KuramaGlare™.

Tsubaki-sensei remained impervious to her anger and death-glare though, and pink hearts popped into existence and fluttered around him like butterflies. He puckered his lips into a kissy-kissy pout.

"To see my adorable sweet kitten, of course!" The hearts faded out, and Tsubaki–sensei cleared his throat. "Now, on to the shooting grounds! Come along, students!"

Grabbing Naruko's arm, he turned around and marched out the arena, without waiting for the other students.

The shooting test went pretty well, once she'd explained she used shuriken and kunai, not guns and bullets. The proctor merely raised one thick eyebrow, before allowing her to use them. She made sure to miss out at least once every three times, sometimes sending a kunai awry randomly to prevent anyone catching on to her pattern. Her prowess still impressed the students, and Ryuuji, who had looked a bit condescending before, looked at her with a bit more respect. Kamiki merely sniffed disdainfully, and turned up her nose.

The physical exams were over. Now she had Summoning Class.

_Kurama? _She probed in her mind for the familiar feeling of her lover.

In her mind, Kurama stretched lazily like a cat before opening a single eye. _**What? You woke me up from my nap, woman.**_

Naruko pouted mentally, _That's all you ever do these days! Anyway, I have Summoning Class: what should I do? Should I summon Toads? Or not at all? _

_**I'd go for summoning Toads, but a medium-sized one. You need to impress them, not crush them.**_

_I could do it without the summons. It could be so easy, you know? Just… a Tailed Beast Bomb. And they'd be ashes…So easy to kill them all. _Naruko sighed in her mind.

_**Naruko! You're having a bloodlust fit. Stop now**_! Kurama snapped sharply, which startled Naruko from her haze.

Naruko's sanity had not escaped unscathed from the Genocide and her subsequent exile. Frequently, she'd get _urges _to maim and kill and destroy… They would only get worse the longer she bottled them, so she usually gave in. That was also one of the reasons why she kept away from civilization. She couldn't fully trust herself, not even after all these years. And she couldn't quite give in, now, with everyone surrounding her.

Naruko grunted, and with difficulty and trembling limbs, she slowly forced the urge down, deep into her belly where it pooled like liquid fire and spat burning flames into her limbs. She shivered half in delight, half in dread, as one particularly big tongue of fire licked her spine, before gnashing her teeth and forcing it down. With a deep mental breath of concentration, she took the pool of fire, and slowly compressed it into a sphere, that rested in the pit of her stomach heavily. The orb of bubbling magma thrummed and vibrated with near stellar intensity but didn't object much more.

_I've got it under control. For now._

_**Good, **_Kurama said silkily. _**You'll get the opportunity to work it out… later.**_

* * *

Naruko decided immediately, she didn't like Neuhaus-sensei. He probably had his picture in the dictionary next to the word "untrustworthy".

She didn't know if it was the soul-piercing glare he shot Rin whenever he thought no one was watching, or his general 'I-am-a-Ranked-Exorcist-therefore-you-are-

the-scum-beneath-my-Ranked-Exorcist-shoe' attitude that she hated the most.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san. I will be your proctor in the Great Art of Summoning," Neuhaus-sensei crossed his arms, and looked disdainfully at her with his one good eye. "The Art of Summoning is not a skill that can be learnt, I hope you know. You either have it, or you don't."

Not waiting for her introduction he strode forwards and shoved a little paper and a needle her hands. "Here is the Summoning Sigil. If you are a Summoner, you will eventually learn to draw your own. For now, you'll just have to use this."

He turned and stood a good few meters away. "Now, the process is simple: you prick your finger, let a drop of blood fall on the Sigil and say the first words that come to your mind."

Naruko did as he instructed, and carefully hid her already healed over prick wound.

_Summoning Techinque:…._

"Descendant of Swamp, golden eyes. Sage and wise, come forth!"

_Gamakichi!_

_**Poof!**_

A massive plume of smoke suddenly exploded outwards. Naruko coughed as she inhaled a bit of it, and waved a hand frantically to disperse the smoke.

"Eh?"

A confused voice piped up from the fog, and Naruko smiled. Gamakichi was in the house.

"Where am I?"

Naruko made to answer but someone beat her to it. Unfortunately, it was Neuhaus-sensei. His voice made Naruko frown just by hearing it.

"Demon, you are in the renowned True Cross Academy. A student of mine has just summoned you. The fact that you are sentient speaks for her talent."

Of course, Gamakichi picked up only on the beginning of the detestable sensei's sentence.

"What are ya yapping about? I ain't a demon!"

By now the smoke had cleared enough so that Gamakichi could see Naruko clearly, but still was shrouded from the others. His face stretched into a toady grin.

"Heya, Naruko! It's been a long time! How's it-"

He interrupted himself when he saw her thunderous face and her frantic motions to stay _quiet. _She exaggerated her lip motions so he could read them:

_Play along. _

"You're clearly stupid if you think you can fool us, demon. A toad that can speak is not natural, and obviously a demon," she dramatically sneered, eyes apologizing silently. "Plus, I summoned you, which confirms what your true nature is!"

Gamakichi roared angrily, but a grin threatened to break out on his face. "Damn! You humans have gotten smarter! No matter, I'll eat you all the same!"

"No, you won't! I summoned you and so, you shall obey me! Stand down, now, or face going back to Gehenna! "

The smoke had dispersed completely, and revealed Gamakichi's size entirely to the others. Several gasps rang from the other students as they gazed at the towering Toad. Over the years, the small bratty Toad had grown much, both in terms of personality and size. He now easily dwarfed Naruko, being over four times her size and had started training to be the next Leader of the Mount Mobyoku Toads, which had greatly improved his personality.

It didn't stop the playful Toad from acting like a three year old on a sugar-rush at times.

Gamakichi growled and snapped and thrashed but finally lay down in a submissive position. "Damn you, human!" he grunted, "I'll make you pay! One day, when your will isn't as strong as now, I'll kill you and enjoy it!"

Neuhaus-sensei walked from his position to kneel next to Gamakichi's eye. "Interesting," he hummed pensively, whilst poking and prodding Gamakichi's skin. "You seem to know this demon. Care to explain why?"

Naruko frowned. "My mentor summoned it once, and if it was cordial with him, it wasn't with me. I'm surprised I called forth Gamakichi, or a Toad at all: they were my master's signature summons, and this particular demon was his strongest."

A half-lie, technically. Gamakichi hadn't liked her at first, yes, but he sure as hell wasn't the strongest Toad in Mobyoku.

"Ah, I see. Who was your mentor, exactly? I have never heard of an Exorcist summoning High Level Leapers in all my years here." Neuhauss-sensei probed with all the finesse of a fifteen-ton slab of concrete.

"His name was Jiraiya. He wasn't an Exorcist, or at least, not one registered in records."

Neuhaus-sensei did not look convinced, but neither did he press the matter further. After one last baleful glance at Gamakichi, he slapped a Banishing Sigil on Gamakichi, who writhed and screeched dramatically before breaking the Summon Link. The giant Toad disappeared with a pop and a last curse word that hung in the air long after he left.

Naruko smiled internally at his antics; over the years, Gamakichi had become like a brother to her, and had always stayed by her side. She was especially grateful for the lending of a shoulder to cry on during her grieving period for the Genocide. The little Toad (that wasn't so little now!) had showed unsuspected treasures of patience and tolerance while she raged and bargained alternatively.

And while he was anything a girl could ask for in a surrogate-sibling, he hadn't know much about human psychology. Thus, when Naruko didn't go through the depression phase, instead 'somehow' immediately going to the acceptance one, he didn't question it; too relieved to notice anything was wrong. Sometimes, when Naruko lay awake, too plagued by nightmares to sleep, she'd curse him. Yell at him in her mind-

_Why can't you see something's still wrong?! _

Then, she'd quiet her thoughts down, lest she'd wake Kyuubi up, and had to face an awkward conversation on grief.

Fortunately, Kurama was no stranger on anguish, and helped her- by force- when he finally noticed she still hadn't moved on after two hundred years. He helped her move on, but it was too late.

By then, an unhealthy amount of anger had already formed in her subconscious as an incurable taint. It surfaced occasionally as urges, that mostly were played out and indulged in.

"Hmm. That Toad was easily Higher-Middle class. Your talent is raw, and untapped into: you could barely control him. At least, you show promise. Here," he sniffed as he gave her a stack of Sigils, before turning back to his desk, "Those are for your future Summonings. Have a care how you use them, for I will only give you one packet every two months. Also, memorize the first eighteen chapters of this book." He picked up a dusty, tattered tome from his desk and dumped it into her arms. "You will have a test on them, tomorrow. Do you understand?"

The first eighteen chapters easily made up half of the very heavy book she had in her arms.

Naruko bowed her head in consent, but Neuhaus-sensei didn't look pleased. In fact, he had this rather hilarious affronted expression on.

"When I ask you a question, you answer me. Is that clear, Uzumaki-san?" he snapped waspishly, lone eye blazing.

Naruko looked him in the eye, defiantly holding his gaze for the longest time possible without causing him to bust a blood vessel.

"Yes, Sensei." She replied with a disobedient lilt in her voice. She very nearly threw in a military salute, just to hear him choke on his spittle, but decided against it at the last minute. No one wanted to see Neuhaus-sensei choke: his mug was already ugly enough without the grotesque facial expressions of a suffocating man twisting it even further.

Neuahsu-sensei narrowed his eye before announcing loudly to the rest of the students,

"Class dismissed. I will see you next time, and anyone late will immediately fail tomorrow's test."

Naruko was crowded by Rin the second she left the class.

"Wow! That was so awesome, Naruko! That demon was ginormous! " Rin crowed excitedly.

"Pretty impressive," Ryuuji allowed before continuing on to the next class with Konekomaru and Shima and tow, who both gazed at her in newfound respect.

Naruko forced a blush to come to her cheeks, and scuffed the ground with her foot shyly. "It wasn't _that _impressive… I mean, the Summoning Sigil did most of the work, and really, the only thing I did was yell at it…"

Rin shook his head, vigorously disagreeing with her "Nuh-uh! It was awesome. I can't even summon!"

Naruko forced more blood to warm up her cheeks. "Thanks, Rin. I need to hold onto to that thought: I'm probably going to flunk the Verse Test. _Badly._"

Naruko had read the Bible once, and she hadn't touched the book since then. Unless she had an epiphany, she'd probably have an extremely low grade.

" Nah, I'm sure you'll be fine! It's just memorizing, you know. I'm crap at it, so I have bad grades. It's not my fault I learn more on the fly than with stupid books!" Rin stretched his arms, and glowered at the books he held like they had murdered puppies.

Naruko sighed in despair, "I hear you, man. Theory is useful only so far in life. Now, experience, _that's _what it's all about!"

Shiemi, who had stayed silent the whole time, patted her arm comfortingly. "It's going to be fine," she chirped. "Besides, even if you fail the Verse Test, your other grades will make up for it!"

Naruko just shook her head. If he were here, Neji would scoff that it was her fate to fail the upcoming Exam astronomically.

* * *

And indeed, the Verse Exam was an _utter _disaster. Naruko managed to answer two questions passably, and even then, the teacher looked at her like she thought a brain dead chimpanzee had sneaked into her class, disguised as Naruko.

The teacher's eyes were widened in disbelief. "W-well, _Mademoiselle _Uzumaki," she stuttered. " You certainly—"

Naruko cut her off. "Suck at this?"

"I was going to say you had 'difficulties' concerning the learning and reciting of Verses. Your scores are—"

"Deplorable? Awful?"

"-less than adequate, and you should—"

"Drop out? Give up?"

The teacher's eyebrows bunched together as she frowned disapprovingly. "_Mademoiselle _Uzumaki, will you please stop interrupting me and putting words in my mouth? It is _tres _disrespectful. I meant to say that you should ask for tutoring," she trilled, ruffled by Naruko's insolence. " _Mademoiselle _Izumo is very proficient at Verses, and should probably be able to make you catch up the rest of the students _en un rien de temps_!"

Twin voices objected in unison. "No way!"

The sensei's face scrunched up even more in fury. "You are behaving like children! _Mademoiselle _Izumo, you will teach everything _mademoiselle _Uzumaki has to know. _Tu n'as pas le choix. _Understood?» She asked, pointedly staring at the pig-tailed girl, who sighed in defeat before nodding reluctantly.''And _Mademoiselle _Uzumaki, you will do your best to memorize everything your tutor will teach you, yes?''

Naruko gritted her teeth. "Yes, sensei."

Izumo came up to her as soon as they left class and shoved two books into her arms. "You need to learn all this." She said simply, before turning around and leaving.

"H-hey!", Naruko cried out. "I really need your help on this! Can we at least arrange sessions, or something?"

The other trainee exorcist simply gave a dismissive wave of the hand. "You'll manage. After all, you're so good at everything else: summoning, fighting… Making friends."

The last part was murmured under the bitter girl's breath, and had Naruko been an ordinary human being, she wouldn't have heard it.

_**Therein lies the root of the problem. **_

Naruko ran to catch up with the leaving purple-haired teen and grabbed her shoulder. "Stop, please. I'm good with physical stuff, but memorizing? I suck at this. If you want, I'll help you train in exchange or something. Please?"

Kamiki slowly looked over her shoulder. "Get. Lost." She enunciated clearly. "Figure this out on your own, because I don't care if you fail."

After shaking off Naruko's grip on her shoulder, the other girl walked regally and disappeared around the corner.

_Damn, Dr. Kurama. I think we've got another severe case of Sasukeitis. What do you recommend? _

_**How about: a dose of AnnoyingFriendlyClinging™ every day, coupled with a few pills of BondingBattle™? It worked with the previous patient. For a while, anyway. **_

Naruko ignored the last part of the demon's answer, and slowly trudged back to where Shiemi was waiting.

"Why doesn't she like me?" she asked to the other blonde, mood low.

Shiemi shrugged helplessly. "I tried joining her, but Rin told me she was only pretending to be my friend, and using me. When Paku, her friend, left the class afterbeing attacked, she became even colder and started picking fights with everyone over anything," the usually–clueless girl sighed deeply. "She even insulted me. It's like she's scared that if she gets close to someone again, she'll get hurt."

Naruko blinked. Thinking this deep was utterly unusual for Shiemi, whom she'd gathered was quite the bubbly and oblivious girl

"Reminds me of a friend of mine," the last shinobi murmured, thinking of a certain redhead. Of course, Kamiki Izumo's case was far less extreme then Gaara of the Sands': Naruko was pretty certain Izumo wouldn't be going full homicidal any time soon, but you never knew.

** "**Really? What was his name?"Shiemi inquired, eyes wide and curious.

"Gaara."

Shiemi gasped. "You mean someone named their child 'self-loving carnage', willingly?"

"Uuuh, I don't know about that. I think it was his uncle that named him, after his sister, and Gaara's mother, died in childbirth."

Shiemi looked ready to cry. "But that's _awful_!"

Scratching the back of her head sheepishly, Naruko chuckled. "I don't think Gaara's name bothered him that much…"

"But-but _why?_" Shiemi stuttered, trying to wrap her head around the idea of someone giving a child such a gruesome name. "I'd be horrified if I was named like that!"

"Yeah? Well, his name wasn't the nastiest thing in his life…"

And they continued chatting till they parted ways, at the dorm rooms.

* * *

"You have decent knowledge of Pharmaceuticals, even though you don't know their practical uses against demons, Uzumaki-san. I'd give you around 70 out of a 100," Okumura sensei declared with an easy smile then next morning. "You've caught up with the other students and so will partake in the final exam with them, one week from now."

Naruko took the liberty to slump down with a sigh of relief. The test had been nearly too easy, and Naruko had forgotten halfway she was supposed to lay low. Had she aced it, she'd probably have attracted the oh-so-dreaded limelight.

Okumura-sensei didn't notice the sigh or didn't care, and turned to face the rest of the class. He quickly drew a rough sketch of a comfrey root on the blackboard and started teaching class to a room full of bored teenagers.

"Symphytum Uplandicum; or the Russian Comfrey. Very common, it is a powerful disinfectant they can treat demon wounds and normal ones alike…."

Naruko took out one of the notebooks she'd brought with her, and reluctantly started taking notes.

* * *

**Okay, the fourth chapters done now! I had trouble writing it, especially the fight scene. It may seem forced... :(**

**New question: Which Naruto charatcer do you hate the most?**

**Reviews are warm hugs! Spread the lurve~!**


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